Interview with a painter on Day 13 #100DaysStudioObj

A May 1988 issue of Interview magazine has a spot on my studio bookshelf. It is in shockingly good shape, with a slightly scuffed Lily Tomlin gracing the cover. There is a Patti Smith interview inside, but the main reason I have it is for an article on Eric Fischl. 

My beloved, departed Aunt Linda gave me a subscription to Interview when I was in high school and it rocked my world. Hours were spent flipping through the pages, tearing some of them out, pinning them up, gluing them down. Seventeen year old me was particularly struck by the paintings of Eric Fischl on the pages of this issue.

I had never seen paintings presented in such a way: large canvases layered and leaning upon one another. Each one on its own was beautiful and mysterious. I did then and still do enjoy the subversiveness of the stories I imagined the paintings were telling. A naked man and a woman in a ballgown on a dreary, dark night. My imagination swirls with Raymond Carver-esque scenarios.

Years later I saw some of these works in person—in my mid 20's I was dating a guy who had a friend who worked for Eli Broad and we were given the outrageous privilege of wandering around unattended in part of the man's immense art collection, housed at the time in Santa Monica. I was overcome with emotion. I don't remember the name of the guy I was dating, but I remember distinctly the moment I saw Fischl's work in person.